Midnight's Children
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Narrated by:
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Lyndam Gregory
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By:
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Salman Rushdie
About this listen
Man Booker Prize Winner, 1981
Salman Rushdie holds the literary world in awe with a jaw-dropping catalog of critically acclaimed novels that have made him one of the world's most celebrated authors. Winner of the prestigious Booker of Bookers, Midnight's Children tells the story of Saleem Sinai, born on the stroke of India's independence.
©1981 Salman Rushdie (P)2009 Recorded Books, LLCCritic reviews
“Burgeons with life, with exuberance and fantasy . . . Rushdie is a writer of courage, impressive strength, and sheer stylistic brilliance.” (The Washington Post Book World)
“A marvelous epic . . . Rushdie’s prose snaps into playback and flash-forward . . . stopping on images, vistas, and characters of unforgettable presence. Their range is as rich as India herself.” (Newsweek)
“Extraordinary . . . one of the most important [novels] to come out of the English-speaking world in this generation.” (The New York Review of Books)
Featured Article: The Best Indian Authors to Listen to Right Now
"India," to quote actress and human rights activist Shabana Azmi, "is a country that lives in several centuries simultaneously." Just as those different time periods seem to coexist in one place, so do the voices of brilliant literary talents. Each of these writers and their works have contributed to help the world better understand this expansive country and its beautiful, multifaceted culture, whether it be from within India’s own borders or through the memory of its customs and traditions from distant continents.
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Great story and great story teller
- By marce on 05-22-18
By: Salman Rushdie
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The Enchantress of Florence
- By: Salman Rushdie
- Narrated by: Firdous Bamji
- Length: 13 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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In the imperial capital of the Mughal Empire, a traveler arrives at the court of Emperor Akbar. The traveler, Mogor dell'Amore, has a tale to tell, and as the words flow out of him, the tale's rich tapestry of power and desire begins to take on a life of its own.
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The Enchantress of Florence ... Why?!
- By Jeff Virant on 07-20-08
By: Salman Rushdie
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Fury
- By: Salman Rushdie
- Narrated by: Salman Rushdie
- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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The world renowned author of The Satanic Verses and The Ground Beneath Her Feet, Salman Rushdie is a Whitbread Award winner and recipient of the Booker Prize. His first truly American novel, Fury is a metaphorically rich black comedy that reflects the pressure-cooker of modern life. Malik Solanka, irascible doll-maker and retired historian of ideas, suffers the pain of wanting without knowing exactly what it is he wants.
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surprisingly good
- By David on 11-21-07
By: Salman Rushdie
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Grimus
- By: Salman Rushdie
- Narrated by: Tim Gerard Reynolds
- Length: 13 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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After drinking an elixir that bestows immortality upon him, a young Indian named Flapping Eagle spends the next 700 years sailing the seas with the blessing - and ultimately the burden - of living forever. Eventually, weary of the sameness of life, he journeys to the mountainous Calf Island to regain his mortality. There he meets other immortals obsessed with their own stasis and sets out to scale the island's peak, from which the mysterious and corrosive Grimus Effect emits.
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Excellent narration, but story is a mess
- By Stevie McCann on 01-29-19
By: Salman Rushdie
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Victory City
- A Novel
- By: Salman Rushdie
- Narrated by: Sid Sagar
- Length: 11 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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In the wake of an unimportant battle between two long-forgotten kingdoms in fourteenth-century southern India, a nine-year-old girl has a divine encounter that will change the course of history. After witnessing the death of her mother, the grief-stricken Pampa Kampana becomes a vessel for a goddess, who begins to speak out of the girl’s mouth. Granting her powers beyond Pampa Kampana’s comprehension, the goddess tells her that she will be instrumental in the rise of a great city called Bisnaga—“victory city”—the wonder of the world.
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Rushdie never fails to engage.
- By Tom on 02-23-23
By: Salman Rushdie
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The Ground Beneath Her Feet
- By: Salman Rushdie
- Narrated by: Steven Crossley
- Length: 27 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Salman Rushdie is widely considered one of a handful of truly great living writers. The internationally acclaimed, Booker Prize-winning author's storytelling shines in this epic love story, a modern retelling of the myth of Orpheus.
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Okay, Salmon, We get that you're a genious already
- By Julie A Quinn on 04-23-09
By: Salman Rushdie
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Quichotte
- A Novel
- By: Salman Rushdie
- Narrated by: Vikas Adam
- Length: 16 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Inspired by the Cervantes classic, Sam DuChamp, mediocre writer of spy thrillers, creates Quichotte, a courtly, addled salesman obsessed with television who falls in impossible love with a TV star. Together with his (imaginary) son Sancho, Quichotte sets off on a picaresque quest across America to prove worthy of her hand, gallantly braving the tragicomic perils of an age where “Anything-Can-Happen.” Meanwhile his creator, in a midlife crisis, has equally urgent challenges of his own.
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The Best Narration I have Ever Heard
- By Bubikon on 12-12-19
By: Salman Rushdie
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Knife
- Meditations After an Attempted Murder
- By: Salman Rushdie
- Narrated by: Salman Rushdie
- Length: 6 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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On the morning of August 12, 2022, Salman Rushdie was standing onstage at the Chautauqua Institution, preparing to give a lecture on the importance of keeping writers safe from harm, when a man in black—black clothes, black mask—rushed down the aisle toward him, wielding a knife. His first thought: So it’s you. Here you are. What followed was a horrific act of violence that shook the literary world and beyond.
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Triumph of Life
- By Donna Ponte on 04-17-24
By: Salman Rushdie
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A Passage to India
- By: E. M. Forster
- Narrated by: Vikas Adam
- Length: 11 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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The lives of Miss Adela Quested and those around her are forever changed when she befriends a young doctor named Aziz during a trip she and her companion Mrs. Moore make to India. The unlikely friendship between Adela and Aziz eventually culminates in a disastrous expedition to the Marabar caves, during which she offends him, an action which leads to false accusations, arrests, and a litany of miscommunications.
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Confusing at Times
- By Matthew Everett on 01-12-22
By: E. M. Forster
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The Good Soldier
- Penguin Classics
- By: Ford Madox Ford
- Narrated by: David Shaw-Parker, Billy Howle
- Length: 9 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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The Dowells, a wealthy American couple, have been close friends with the Ashburnhams for years. Edward Ashburnham, a first-rate soldier, seems to be the perfect English gentleman and Leonora his perfect wife, but beneath the surface their marriage seethes with unhappiness and deception. Our only window on the strange tangle of events surrounding Edward is provided by John Dowell, the husband he deceives. Gradually Dowell unfolds a devastating story, in which everyone's honesty is in doubt.
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Humorous Take on Conceptually Tragic Circumstance
- By noah on 09-19-23
By: Ford Madox Ford
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House of Trelawney
- By: Hannah Rothschild
- Narrated by: Corrie James
- Length: 13 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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The seat of the Trelawney family for over 700 years, Trelawney Castle was once the jewel of the Cornish coast. Each successive Earl spent with abandon, turning the house and grounds into a sprawling, extravagant palimpsest of wings, turrets, and follies. But as the centuries passed the Earls of Trelawney, their ambition dulled by generations of pampered living, failed to develop other skills.
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Really fun read
- By Ruthi on 04-12-20
What listeners say about Midnight's Children
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Jessica
- 05-10-09
great book, poor narration
The reader overplayed it. I think he was trying to add to the humor in the story and in so doing, killed the funny. Subtlety is a key in these performances. I wish they would have had Simon Vance do it, or Simon Prebble or .... well anyway.
The story itself is funny and touching and provocatve. Historical fiction at its best, telling the story of the times with a wide vision, and at the same time not loosing the thred of a human, personal story. And of course, there's a bit of magic, a bit of destiny... good stuff. I would download it again if they released another performance. Maybe they will get Grimus out soon? I hope.
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23 people found this helpful
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- William M Storm
- 10-13-12
Twin Births of India and the Nose
Though Midnight's Children won the Booker of Bookers, this text is less engaging and, I believe, less successful than The Satanic Verses. While MC tells the story of one particularly magical child, Saleem Sinai, who is writing this story for the purpose of telling his young child, who perhaps retains some magical qualities of his parents. The story is also the narrative of India and Pakistan, and the tensions that have existed since their twin births. While the story of Saleem Sinai takes many turns, the narrative takes its most significant turn when Rushdie unleashes a scathing critique of Indiria Ghandi's leadership during "The Emergency." Rushdie, as he explains in the Preface, was sued for libel over one particular sentence that Ghandi found offensive, regarding her relationship with her son and her role in her husband's demise. While Rushdie removed the offending sentence, this incident proves that his takedown of Ghandi was, in fact, accurate over her power grab. This book demonstrates the necessity of literature, both in how narrative allows for someone to make sense of events and the power of literature as social critique. For anyone interested in serious literature, this book should be engaged with for both the pleasure of literature and the power of literature.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Clare
- 09-13-13
The history of India in one mans face
Where does Midnight's Children rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
I have listened to a lot of books, it is among the best.
What did you like best about this story?
I learned the story of India from the revolution on through an amazing story that allows you be a part of that history. The rhythym and timing of storytelling is amazing.
What about Lyndam Gregory’s performance did you like?
Awesome! The indian accent and the rolling voice was like music. I laughed many times as well and every other emotion.
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
Every emothion is felt reading this book.
Any additional comments?
Enjoy!
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2 people found this helpful
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- Roman
- 11-30-12
Great Performance
Lyndam Gregory is pitch perfect in his reading. He total inhabits the many characters presented in the novel.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 11-07-22
Beautifully narrated
Beautifully narrated. The voice is so engaging, it just takes you to the land of midnights children.
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- LizzyBethC
- 12-02-23
The narration was the best!
First and foremost, I am a Midwest white woman and trying to differentiate Indian names on audio proved difficult for me. This book followed listening to A House For Mr. Biswas - both interesting and enlightening, but challenging in very different ways. Thank goodness for Google and Wikipedia in lieu of a college course. Those 2 entities will help make sense of this complicated novel (which can't be pigeonholed into any one genre). It certainly piqued my interest in what exactly went down with India's Independence, followed by Partition, etc.
From the beginning, when someone's tears are described as diamonds, I was entranced. The narrator was arguably one of the best I've heard, capturing the lilt and expression of Indian English, while expressing the words into life in a way we seldom get to hear outside of good theatre. He was marvelous!
So many great/ good things about this story, but I have to admit to having to slog through sections that related more to the history. I love history and I believe a reading in print would have been easier, but this narration is so good, I stand by this audio book for one of your readings. I'm 67, so I'll be moving on to another of The Modern Library's list of the Best English Novels of the 20th Century (this is ranked as #90).
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- David C.
- 01-14-24
The State as a projection of Man
The State as a projection of Man
As his sophomore novel #salmanrushdie attempted to tell the children complicated story of #indiaindependence through #midnightschildren . The story is narrated from the main character's perspective in an autobiographical approach of #saleemsinai who had the unique historical quirk of being born at the stroke of midnight precisely when #india became an independent state and the first thirty years as #pakistan and #bangladesh undergo their own independence wars. Born to a middle class Indian family in #bombay , the story travels across from #kashmir where Saleem's grandparents were born to #agra , #newdelhi , #lahore as his parents followed the lead of many #muslim Indians and relocated to #pakistan to escape the #hindu majority of India.
Salman Rushdie employs #magicalrealism which particularly makes sense with the religious and mythological aspects that pervade Indian culture. At the same time, the book details many well documented historical events of the time. Rusdie's debut novel is generally dismissed though it applied many similar devices. This second novel, however, gave him the fame and recognition previously missed, selling million copies in the just the #unitedkingdom alone. it also earned him the #1981 #bookerprize and landed him at #90 on the #modernlibrarytop100novels which is how it landed on my reading list. It can be a bit difficult to discern one character from another in some of the secondary characters but part of the fun is his frequent literary allusions peppered throughout this very long novel. Rushdie also gave very vivid descriptions of the varied and unique regions that make up the #subcontinent , many on yet another list of mine.
#readtheworldchallenge #globalreadingchallenge #englishliterature #indianliterature #readtheworld
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- Abby Wines
- 07-15-11
magic realism, but a slow listen
The story reminded me of the "magic realism" of One Hundred Years of Solitude. If you enjoy that type of writing, you will enjoy this. The book takes place in India. The main character's life parallel's India's growth as an independent nation, including struggles with Pakistan. There were parts of the book that were fast-paced and extremely engaging, but I found there were also parts that my attention lagged during. I felt that was due to the book itself, not to the narrator.
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27 people found this helpful
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- january
- 07-01-13
a magical story about what's his name
I did not give the story three stars because I didn't enjoy it. I gave it three stars because I would need to be a genius, and probably an Indian Historian, to be able to understand it all.
I did like the book though, and for many reasons. The most important being that Salman Rushdie can turn words inside out and upside down and form them into something beautiful that you've never seen before. This book made me feel like what I imagine it would feel like to be in India. The smells, the traffic , the poor people hanging onto buses and trains. He doesn't make things picturesque. He makes things real. Not only the good, but the bad as well. The narrator of the story, Saleem Sinai, doesn't hold back from telling us how things really are. He tells us about his snot, accidentally seeing his mother's woohoo, fighting on the wrong side of things and falling in love with his sister. He is the kind of narrator that most of us are. He forgets things, backtracks, skips ahead, gets muddled. But through it all you learn about his whole family and history, and how the history of India is a part of everything. My favorite character is the grandmother, Reverend Mother. She is absurd, and yet, somehow quite likable. Every time she said "what's his name" it made me smile.
I found Midnight's Children easier to understand than The Satanic Verses. Even though it doesn't flow in chronological order, and the story is often interrupted by Padma, it is not as fantastical or as dreamlike as SV. But there are some similar themes in both books. Rushdie seems to be fond of the good/evil, God/Satan dynamic. Also, reality and non-reality play an equal part.
If you like books that push you, that expand you, that make you question things and look at the world in new ways, then you will like this book. It's not easy, but it is worth it.
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26 people found this helpful
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- Steve
- 07-29-10
Long-winded, but worth it!
I had this suggested to me by my Indian-American girlfriend as her favorite book, so I figured it worth a listen. It's hard to really summarize a 24 hour listen, but I found it to be quite enjoyable. At times the asides can get a bit tiresome, and I wasn't a huge fan of his decision to speak directly to the reader as his character (as the author himself, for all intents). It reminded me a bit of opera in its reiteration of important specifics, but I think this actually helped to keep the reader oriented and able to understand the massive, highly detailed story. It is certainly not a light listen in terms of attention (not a good transition from modern spy novels, for example), but due to the occasional backtracking and repetition it allows the listener's focus to be able to drift if just for 30 seconds or a minute. All said, it is quite the epic in terms of the time frame and characters covered, not withstanding the direct and/or allegorical discussions of the young modern India and Pakistan and the struggles of becoming an autonomous state after longstanding imperial rule. But Rushdie does manage to keep it interesting with clever language, wit, and charm. Overall it is certainly a commitment to even listen to this book, but if you give it your attention (and maybe wikipedia some things to help you with context both in terms of location and time!), I think you will find it an engaging, smart, and highly enjoyable piece of historical fiction.
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25 people found this helpful